Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Sommerloch, Part 2

Well, Berlin's still here. Even though, since it's now August, fewer and fewer of my neighbors are. You can even find a place to park on my street if you want. That's deserted.

One set of neighbors I won't miss much is White Trash Fast Food, "Berlin's hippest club," which vacated its premises on the corner over the weekend. While their being there did bring some interesting paper graffiti to the 'hood, the crowds waiting to be allowed in -- or not -- brought beer-bottles, which they routinely disposed of in the traditional manner, by dropping them on the sidewalk and breaking them. People leaving the club around 4 or 5 am would also sometimes avail themselves of the traditional Berlin roar, something young guys here seem to like to do when it's late at night and they're drunk.

There sure was a lot of stuff in there: they hired a huge van and it made dozens of trips, hauling off the furniture, the decorations, the liquor, and all -- even the signs. The Chinese pagoda roof over the front door is still there, a relic of when it was the ultra-shady Kaiser des Chinas restaurant that no one ever went into and whose owners vanished so quickly that there were still dishes with ingredients measured out in them when Wally and his crew took over, but everything else is gone. The only proof that it was ever there is the front door glass, smashed by some drunk who wasn't allowed in, I suppose.

As I've said, I took extreme exception to their definition of "white trash" since it seemed to mean American working-class (something a lot of the rich-kid American bohos who come here have in common, a disdain for the common man), so I'm not going to miss their noise or their esthetic.

Even these ladies are beginning to vanish, pasted up one night on a nearby building.

They're not real pretty, but I'll miss 'em.

***

I've recently joined Flickr, like a (literal) million other people, and will be posting more photos as soon as I get the chance. As it is, however, there is a complete selection of the photos I took on my recent trip to France over here, for those who are interested.

***

While we're on a "there goes the neighborhood" kick, there was the recent story about how Michael Jackson is going to move here. I'll admit, I spent some time wondering how someone who's as reclusive as he is and used to a huge parcel of land where he can build his fantasy-world is going to fit into a city as dirty and congested as this one. Where on earth does he think he's going to live? Given his penchant for covering his face when he goes to places like Africa and India, how's he going to cope with the filth in the streets?

And is he a vegetarian? Or will he want to decorate his house with some of these?

(Thanks to Frisco Mike for both links!)

***

But it's Sommerloch now, and, like I said, pretty quiet. There were huge fireworks last night, though, and I wonder if it was because it was Swiss Independence Day? Surely there aren't that many Swiss people here...

Time to get out with the camera, I guess, and shoot some of the strange stuff I want to write about. Watch this space.